A West Australian kindergarten student has almost hanged himself on the cord of his school hat, after it became stuck in a climbing frame.
Earlier this week, four-year-old Levi Saggers was left hanging when he slipped on a school playground climbing frame and the cord of his hat became caught around his neck.
The cord snapped but the boy suffered rope burns which were later discovered by his mother Kerry Mortell.
The incident happened at the Kununurra District School, a combined primary and secondary district school.
Ms Mortell said the incident was a wake-up call to a hidden danger in her son’s school uniform.
Levi Saggers has rope burns on his neck after his school hat got stuck in a playground climbing frame.(Supplied: Kerry Mortell)
"I was just really shocked, it really shook me up," she said.
"He seemed OK with it, but when I spoke to him he did say he was very frightened at the time.
"It's just scary that it could happen and nobody even saw it at the school, that was the worst part."
Incident 'more common' than people think: Kidsafe
Kidsafe's playground advisory services manager Tracy Blaszkow said she had heard of similar incidents occurring in schoolyards across the country.
She said these accidents were more common than most parents realised.
"There's been very close calls with children hanging by their hats," she said.
"We've actually had an instance where over east a boy actually cut his little mate's hat from around his neck and saved his life."
Ms Blaszkow said parents needed to be vigilant about the kind of hats their children wear, even if they were issued by the school.
"I would check to see if there is a quick-release toggle on the hat and if they don't I'd definitely raise it with the school," she said.
The WA Education Department declined a request for an interview, but in statement said it was up to parents to choose safe hats for their children.
"With most schools, parents have a choice of hats for their child - it is their decision," the statement read.
"Teachers at Kununurra District High School speak with students about how to play safely on equipment and play is supervised, however no playground is risk free.
"Student safety is important, which is why school playground equipment conforms to Australian standards for safety."
Ms Mortell has been trying to contact the department and her school's principal - without any luck.
When told of the department's response, Ms Mortell said it was not good enough.
"That's not very good, it's a real issue. I've written to them about it and will keep going until I get a proper answer," she said.
This post originally appeared on ABC News.
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Top Comments
The Education department are not correct in this. Many public schools dictate that the child must wear the school uniform hat and parents cannot use outside hats. These toggles and strings are on all the hats I have seen. The timing might be right to look at the equipment and consider if high uv protection in sunshades or metal undercover areas are sufficient to protect kids from sun damage. This would alleviate kids having to wear hats on play equipment that is under shade. Our schools have play grounds covered and we aren't anywhere as not as the Kununurra.
Or just have bucket hats with no strings. Kids rarely stay in one play area, it would get messy trying to enforce when and where they should be wearing hats. Living in Australia it's better for us all to get in the habit of wearing sun protection outside at an early age. After all, it's not heat that dictates whether you are likely to get burned it's UV rays and Australia can have very high UV even on a cooler day in Summer.